How to Migrate a WordPress Site to Windows Web Hosting
There are a lot of reasons why you might want to migrate a WordPress site to Windows web hosting. Maybe you’re looking to save money, or you want to go the extra mile to ensure that your site is always available. Whatever your reason, it’s worth looking into how easy it is to move a WordPress site to Windows web hosting.
Why WordPress?
WordPress is the most popular content management system (CMS) out there, and it’s easy to use. Whether you’re a seasoned web developer or you’re just getting started, you’ll have no problem getting up and running with WordPress. In fact, if you’re looking for a simple solution, then WordPress is the best choice.
WordPress was originally created to be used with a web hosting package called ‘WordPress.com’. However, you don’t necessarily have to use their service to benefit from WordPress. You can use any web hosting service that supports PHP and MySQL to run your WordPress site. The main advantage of using a WordPress hosting service is that they take care of all the technical stuff for you. So if you’re looking for a way to save time and effort, then this is the CMS for you.
What About Email?
The good news is you can use your existing email account to log in to your WordPress site once it’s migrated. If you were using a free email service like Google Apps or Outlook.com, then you will need to set up a new email account with the hosting service you choose. You will also need to ensure that your old and new email accounts are configured to work together so that you don’t lose any mail as a result of the transition.
The Steps
Before you start moving your WordPress site, be sure to check with your web host to see what their recommended steps are for such situations. However, in general, here’s what you should do:
- Migrate WordPress databases to your new server
- Set up your WordPress site on your new server
- Test connectivity to your WordPress site
- Ensure all your links work
- Activate your WordPress account
- Review your WordPress site’s performance in terms of speed and functionality
- Improve your WordPress site based on what you learn from testing
So now that you know the basic steps, let’s get started.
Migrate WordPress Databases To Your New Server
This is the step that you need to take before you start moving your WordPress site. The good news is this process is pretty straightforward. All you need is a tool called…
The Best Free WordPress Migration Tool
…MySQL to SQL Migration Tool (MySQL to SQL MT). It’s an open source tool that makes migrating your WordPress databases a cinch. Let’s take a quick look…
…at how MySQL to SQL MT tools work: When you launch the tool, you will be presented with a list of all your current databases. Simply check the ones you want to migrate and click the ‘Migrate’ button. You can also choose to perform the migration in the background so that you aren’t locked out of your computer while the process is being done. While it’s great that this tool makes migrating databases super easy, you need to remember that it’s also extremely insecure. Never use this tool on a live website or store important information in the database.
Set Up Your WordPress Site On Your New Server
Now that your databases have been migrated, you can set up your WordPress site on your new server. The recommended way to do this is using an automated tool called…
The Best Automated WordPress Installation Tool
…WPTavern.com. It’s a great solution if you’re looking for a quick and easy way to get up and running with WordPress. The tool allows you to choose from a variety of hosting packages, including Windows web hosting which I’ll be discussing in the next section.
…You can also choose to install WordPress manually if you prefer. If you go this route, then be sure to use a reputable source for installing WordPress. Some sources for trustworthy WordPress installations are:
- WordPress.org
- PluginCanyon.com
- WPTavern.com
- WebHostingBuzz.com
…Once you’ve installed WordPress, you can use the tool to optimize your site for performance. It will analyze your site’s code and make suggestions regarding speeding up your site.
Test Connectivity To Your WordPress Site
You need to test the connection speed between your server and your WordPress site’s IP address. To do this, launch one of the free speed testing tools like Ookla’s Speedtest or Google’s Speed check. You can record the results and compare them to the results from when your site was previously hosted on a different server. This way you can see the improvement in speed.
Ensure All Your Links Work
If you’re using WordPress as the basis of your site, then all your site’s external links will be directed to the URL of your WordPress site. Once you’ve migrated your site, you need to ensure that all your links work by doing the following:
- Check the spelling of your website’s URLs
- Look at how your website’s URLs are formatted
- Double check all your website’s links
- Ensure that any downloadable files are accessible
- Re-index your site using Google Search Console
…If you’re using a free tool like Google Search Tools to manage your site’s content, then you need to make sure that all your site’s indexed items are accessible via the web. To do this, make sure that the items are listed in the ‘indexing’ section of your Google Search Console. If they’re not, then you’ll need to fix this issue before continuing.
Activate Your WordPress Account
After you’ve migrated your WordPress site and checked that all your links work, you can activate your WordPress account. To do this, visit WordPress.com and click the ‘My Account’ button. From here, you can click the ‘Activate’ button to complete the process.
Review Your WordPress Site’s Performance In Terms Of Speed And Functionality
Once you’ve activated your WordPress account, you can review your site’s performance in terms of speed and functionality using the dashboard. Go to Tools → Performance in your WordPress dashboard to access these items. You can also use any of the free tools mentioned previously to test your site’s speed and functionality.
While these items are great for reviewing your overall site’s performance, you have to remember that they are just that – items. You can’t really see the end result of your efforts until you publish a new blog post. To see the effects of your work, you will have to click the ‘Publish’ button on one of your posts and then check how your visitors interact with that post. This is where reviewing your site’s performance in terms of speed and functionality becomes beneficial. Instead of just looking at the numbers, you can actually see how well your site is doing by monitoring the behavior of your visitors. This gives you a better understanding of whether or not your site’s performance is improving as you’d hope it would.
Improve Your WordPress Site Based On What You Learn
Now that you have everything imported and set up, it’s time to improve your WordPress site. To do this, you will need to learn from the feedback you receive and implement the suggestions made by implementing a course of action. The problem is that this will most likely require some time and effort on your part. However, improving your site’s performance and gaining more traffic are two of the best ways to make sure your site always provides value to your audience.